lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN

Entry tags:

⇨ EDEN

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 79 - Day 85
Where: Eden
What: Everyone arrives in Eden with their new animals forms - unfortunately, the welcoming party is a bit more intense than expected, with a ritual called 'The Anointment.' Better get this place figured out before anything gets any crazier.
Warnings: Hopefully no ritual sacrifice!

FLAME OF INSPIRATION↴

So it begins. After everyone has been given their new animal form and have had about an hour to readjust to it, the Ringmaster begins the infiltration. You don't see a lot of the specifics of the magic - all you know is that Pru's sword, the Hand of God, is somehow involved. It alone can tear through the wardings of Eden's realm, and once that entrance is made, the teleportation is instant. Everyone will find themselves in an open grassland overlooking a dense forest, with buildings and lights poking up out of the leaves. Behind you, there is a darker place - the barrens, the Ringmaster has explained. It's were the Outcasts are sent after they're banished.

You are scattered across the area as if you've been dropped in with nothing. You've been given specific instructions - act as if you have no memory besides the vague life of being an animal. None of you know each other. You don't know how you got here, you've just been suddenly found yourself enlightened. Hopefully feigning ignorance will be what the residents are expecting, as what information the Ringmaster could find suggests it should be.

Before the beasts of Eden come to claim you, you'll see the Ringmaster once last time, in the form of a giant serpent. With a nod of her head, she slithers away towards the barrens - she'll be in touch.

► THE WELCOMING: It's not long until you're discovered. The first to find you is a pigeon, who seems rather surprised. She'll ask the first few new arrivals she sees a couple questions - 'did you just get here?' 'did you meet the great Lilith?' Regardless of your answers, she'll hurriedly say she's going to go get help, and will fly away back into the forest. A short while later, an entire welcoming party of different animals will have come to greet you, sweeping out to find every straggler and explaining that you are the newest of the chosen. After they are sure that nobody is being left behind, they will invite you into Eden.

► THE GARDEN: Eden is a beautiful place. Every street, every structure, is surrounded by flowers and vibrant plant life - every bit as idyllic as its mythos would imply. The architecture is ambitious and creative, as if the residents have been perfecting the art for thousands of years, which they almost certainly have. There is the sweet smell of perfumes and incense on the other animals are you are led into the city. This is your home now, the locals will explain. You have been chosen by the Creator to serve Her cause. You will become one of the Honorable, one of Her artisans working towards the Divine Clarity. But first, of course, you must be sanctified.

► THE ANOINTMENT: On that first night, everyone is brought to a vast cathedral, covered in unknowable writings in a shining script. You are brought in through several gorgeous hallways lit with shining crystals and blue flame torches, only to emerge in a great hall built around a circular, sparkling pool of water. There are several braziers around its circumference blazing with fire, with sets of tools hanging out of them, like iron pokers. All of the new arrivals are gathered into the grand hall, and scriptures are read in the background that you can't really make out the specifics of.

You will all be made to stand around the outside of the pool, and the local animals will gently explain to you what needs to be done. To become a new Honorable, you must be Anointed with the Flame of Inspiration - that is, they are going to brand you with the metal pokers they have heating up. If you go along with it, they will burn the mark into a highly visible part of your person (they have smaller brands for smaller animals), and then cool it off in the pool of water, where you are encouraged to bask until you are comfortable again.

There are obviously a couple concerns with this. The biggest one is that it's sketchy as hell. The second one is that the brand is definitely made of medium grade iron. While the painful difference it makes won't be super obvious from the outside, long-term veterans and those with superlative fae qualities will find it very uncomfortable, and it will blister for a fair while afterward, which is seen as unusual. If your character refuses, or tries to get around it somehow, please explain in reply to the post down below.

► THE DAYS AFTER: After everyone is branded (or isn't, as the case may be), you'll be given the opportunity to dry off and head back into town. All of the fancy structures here are communal, they will explain, and you can choose wherever you'd like to sleep. There are a few buildings that are mostly empty that newbies seem welcome to hole up in, though the locals assure everyone they will be nearby in case they need help.

In the days that follow, everyone will be welcome to explore Eden and find their bearings, and begin to discover what gifts the Anointment has bestowed on them. Whether or not you were good at a creative pursuit before, you will find yourself filled with inspiration for something - any artistic talent will do. It's like a creative talent will have been born in you overnight, or like an existing talent of yours has been boosted to near perfection. This effect will last as long as the characters are in Eden unless you are told otherwise.

You won't feel the need to eat, but there is breakfast available, if you'd like it. The locals are very courteous, though they seem a bit confused. Something about your entry seems to strike them as different than usual.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Did you?!" he asks, all too ready to forget about the gem blood. "Oh man, I think I saw one of them in a dream but I couldn't hang onto it..."

"What did they say? Are they friendly?"

"They were fairly friendly, once we got the initial disaster of introducing ourselves out of the way," she snorts, folding her arms at her chest and shrugging her shoulders lightly. "It seems they're amenable to an alliance, which is good news for us... Though I'm still trying to work out how we can actually help them. Finding them was CRAZY, we followed the serpent underground into these tunnels and ran into all these feral animals? A wolf tried to BITE MY FACE OFF."

"Oh..." Steven says, his tone falling a little. "Maybe that's what that was..."

He glances off to the side, rubbing his bleeding arm.

"The Serpent kind of told me, in her dream, how her and the first Furies got cursed by Lilith for trying to betray her... It's so much like the corrupted and broken gems back home that I... I don't know."

"All of them used to be people, and now they're just lost and in pain."

Peridot cocks her head slightly while she listens, frowning sympathetically. "Well. Unlike the with corrupted gems, we know for certain that there's a cure for this. The Furies, they've been injecting themselves with the Serpent's venom. It helps them retain their sapience, that's how they've managed to stave off the effects of the Barrens and stay in hiding out here for so long without Lilith's blessing."

Steven blinks, and then squints at his arm suspiciously. Then, he sighs.

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't just poison or something..." Though he still doesn't really understand the implications of getting bitten, besides it seeming like a positive thing at the time. "But... if that's a cure, then why are all those guys still out there? Can't the rebels catch them?"

You'd think they would have done something by now.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Peridot says frankly. "I haven't exactly had loads of time to press them for details yet. Maybe they just don't have the resources, or it's too tricky. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well... If they need help to do it, then I'll help," Steven says, stubbornly. "We can't just leave them like that if they can still be saved!"

She appreciates your tenacity Steven, but first thing's first: "I think we need to help the Furies out before we can even begin to attempt that. They have a pretty good idea of where the mirror is, and they also know that some of the Twelve are also starting to question Lilith's goals. The problem is figuring out what to do for them in return for that information."

Steven frowns, thinking hard. It's clear that he really wants to help these guys.

"...I want to help get the Serpent's mind back. If she was around then she could help protect them, even if we can't fix everything else before we leave."

"It would certainly help to even the odds," Peridot admits reluctantly. "But I'm not exactly sure how we can do that. I mean, it's her own venom that fixes everyone else..."

"But it doesn't fix her..."

He's clearly trying to figure it out.

"Can you ask them? Maybe it doesn't work on people Lilith cursed directly..."

Yeah he's pretty stuck on this idea.

She pauses a second before answering, but then:

"Alright. I'll see what I can find out," she sighs. It's not a bad lead to pursue anyway, so she doesn't see the harm.

"...There's... Something else you should know," Peridot adds, gripping her opposite arm uncomfortably.

He is visibly confused, and a little bit worried.

"What is it?" he asks.

"Um. So..." Peridot chews her lip and glances away, because she says next is going to upset him a lot. "Apparently... Lilith has been bringing people here for the Twelve to study. 'Peoples' the Furies called them, specifically? And I'm pretty sure they didn't volunteer for the job."

Steven stares at her for a few long moments, the idea of that gradually sinking in. His reaction isn't violent, but instead kept to a more subtle yet still obvious flinch. It's starting to feel like an exhausting inevitability.

"Oh..." he says, stiffly. "Okay. I guess... we have to deal with that, too."

"Well the GOOD news," she says, forcing herself to look more chipper, "is that it's likely those people are being held where the mirror is! Sooooo. If we can get in there, we can probably help them!"

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE?

HE'S DEFINITELY TRYING.

He clenches his fists at his sides and nods, trying to accept that as an answer. It never feels like they have enough time to help with the nightmares they come across.

"Yeah. I just... wish we had more time, to make things better here."

"I mean... We might not need a lot of time. To fix things. ...This time," Peridot tries to reassure him while picking her words carefully, swishing her tail anxiously. "From the sound of things they're using the Mirror for the examinations, so if we take that, it should cripple their operation pretty seriously."

Steven stares at his bleeding arm, nodding a little. Then he abruptly changes the subject.

"Did you actually get in a fight with Mr Strange?" he asks.

To say Peridot is caught off guard by that question would be an understatement. She closes her mouth, lips pressing into a thin line as she gawks at him for a long moment.

Then she flops down onto the ground and sits with her legs crossed, looking defeated.

"Yeah," she groans miserably. There's other more important things to be talking about, specifically regarding this mission? But Peridot has absolutely no qualms about taking a break so she can dump her emotions on Steven.

It could be that Steven doesn't really want to think about the animals or the Mirror anymore. So, in a signature move, he's focusing on someone else.

"What happened?" he asks, sitting down as well.

Peridot makes an unpleasant face, almost like she's going to vomit or something, and flops onto her side.

"It's complicated," she whines. "It was just before we left on this mission. I tried to get him to come with us because, OBVIOUSLY, he's been hanging around with Ignatius, who's already gotten in trouble with the Twelve. I figured if we found the rebels, it would be safer for them to stay here than it would be in the forest."

"And... he didn't like that?"

He sounds uncertain. From the story so far, he can't imagine how a big conflict could come out of it.

"Well. No," Peridot confirms. "He didn't. But what he really didn't like was that Lapis was involved."

She has a sour expression on, staring at her hands and flexing her claws slightly.

"Oh," he says, putting it together with a frown. "...And they don't really get along, do they?"

Edited 2018-07-25 02:47 (UTC)

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